The Haryana Mass Rapid Transport Corporation will take over the construction of the Mass Rapid Transport System (MRTS) project from HSIIDC. The route will now start from Gurgaon railway station, instead of Huda City Centre, and run up to Manesar in the first phase.
According to the sources, the transfer of project to HMRTC may have been done, due to lack of funds available with HSIIDC, which could have delayed the project. This decision was taken at a meeting headed by chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar in Chandigarh last Monday.
A senior GMDA official who had attended the meeting, said that, the revised route would start at the railway station and go through Vatika Chowk, Rajiv Chowk, Sadar Bazar, IMT Manesar and Pachgaon. “There are congestion issues around Sadar area, but we are chalking out ways to address these problems,” said the official.
The initial plan was to develop the MRTS project in two phases. The link between Huda City Centre and Manesar was to be developed in the first phase and the route connecting Manesar and Bawal in the second. The 30km long first phase would have cost Rs 9,000 crore.
Officials said they were still working on the alignment of the revised route. But overlap with other modes of connectivity, like RRTS and the metro route, has forced several tweaks to the MRTS line. As a result, the project has been in the pipeline for several years.
The change in MRTS alignment was expected, as the route was similar to RRTS, which passes through Manesar, Rewari, Bawal and Dharuhera. Now, after the re-tweak, the MRTS route will run along Sohna Road and turn at Vatika Chowk towards SPR. Launched in September 2017, the MRTS project has missed several deadlines. The revised route is expected to delay the project further.
Among other issues that were discussed at the meeting last week was the metro route between Huda City Centre and Sector 23. Officials said they had also proposed changes to the spur between Dwarka and Gurugram. “Earlier, we had planned to extend a spur connecting Gurgaon Metro with Blue Line of Delhi Metro at Dwarka Sector 24. But the route will now go up to Dwarka Sector 21 instead,” the official said. The change had to be incorporated as the Sector 21 metro station is an interchange station for Delhi Metro and will facilitate an easier transition for commuters.
Officials said the detailed project report for the Gurgaon metro route has been sent to the Centre for approval and work on the ground is expected to begin this summer.